


The Children of Winter

by LyannaForPresident



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Aegon Is A Hot Mess, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Arya Has Feelings and She Is Not Okay With It, Arya and Jon are the best siblings, Badass Arya, Bickering, Bran Stark Is a Dork and I Love Him, Canon Divergence - Red Wedding, Catelyn Knows about R plus L equals J, Catelyn Will Fight Anyone Who Threatens Her Children, Dorks in Love, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Everyone Is Alive, F/M, Featuring Robb and Margaery as the Power Couple, Flirting, Fluff and Angst, Gen, House Stark, Idiots in Love, Jon Just Wants to Protect Everyone, Jon Snow is a Stark, Lyanna Mormont Is Better Than You, Margaery Is Smarter Than You, Matchmaker Catelyn, Multi, Mutual Pining, Myrcella Is the Human Embodiment of Sunshine, Protect Shireen at All Cost, Protective Siblings, R Plus L Equals J, Rickon Had No Chill, Rickon is a Wildling, Robb Stark is King in the North, Robb Stark is a Gift, Sansa Stark Deserves to be Happy, Sibling Bonding, Slow Burn, So Much Sexual Tension, Stark Family, Stark Family Reunion(s) (ASoIaF), Stark Snark, Starklings, The Begining is Basically NedCat fluff and plot, The Starks are not here for your shit, Theon Is a Lovable Asshole, War of the Five Kings, Wolf Pack, Wolf Puns, bastards, dadvos, except ned, no one knows how to talk about their feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-04-20 07:29:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14255967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LyannaForPresident/pseuds/LyannaForPresident
Summary: Catelyn Stark watches her children grow up fight wars and fall in love.Robb/Margery: A boy who never wanted to be a king and a girl who dreams of being the queen find out that there is more to titles than just wordsJon/Myrcella: A brooding boy and a golden girl discover that maybe being a bastard isn't as awful as they thoughtSansa/Theon: A promiscuous boy and a naive girl are forced to acknowledge that changing your ways is harder then seems, but sometimes it can be worth itArya/Aegon: A headstrong girl who’s not a princess and an arrogant prince learn to admit that having feelings may not be such a terrible thingBran/Shireen: A boy who can't walk has strange dreams and a runaway princess bearing scars learn that flaws are the best partsLyanna/Rickon: A wild boy and an opinionated girl who both grow up too fast, regain their lost childhoodsBrynden/Fyn: A boy who’s only ever followed the rules and a girl who lives to break them begin to understand that a bit of rebellion can be useful, but too much can be disastrousLyra/Jax: A boy who has explored the world but longs for a home and a girl who reads of adventures rather than live them write their own stories.





	1. Cast

**Robb Stark**  
_The Young Wolf_

**Margaery Tyrell**

_The Little Rose_

**Jon Targaryen Stark**

_The White Wolf_

**Myrcella Baratheon**  
_The Golden Doe_

**Sansa Stark**  
_The Gentle Wolf_

**Theon Greyjoy**  
_The Winter Kracken_

**Arya Stark**  
_The She Wolf_

**Aegon Targaryen**

_The Lost Dragon_

**Bran Stark**

_The Winged Wolf_

**Shireen Baratheon**

_The Stone Princess_

**Rickon Stark**  
_The Wildling Wolf_

**Lyanna Mormont**  
_The Willful Bear_

**Brynden Stark**  
_The Honorable Wolf_

**Fyn of the Free Folk**

_The Wildling Girl_

**Lyra Stark**

_The Littlest Wolf_

**Jax Sand**

_The Sand Viper_

 

 

**Catelyn Tully Stark**

_The Wolf Mother_

**Tywin Lannister**  
_The Lion of the Rock_

**Dadvos Seaworth**  
_The Onion Knight_

**Brynden Tully**

_The Black Fish_


	2. Part I: Mother of Wolves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this story will be broken up into sections. The first part will focus on Catelyn and the kids when they are younger.

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me but I think she enjoyed it.  
-Mark Twain

A mother's arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them.-Victor Hugo

"...Ned always said that the man who passes the sentence should swing the blade, though he never took any joy in the duty. But I would, oh, yes."   
-Catelyn Stark, A Clash of Kings

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I picture Eleanor Tomlinson from Poldark as young Cat.  
> I already have the first chapter written and have it published on my accounts on other sites (Wattpad, Fanfiction.net) so that will be posted shortly.


	3. I. Of Bastards and Innocents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a pregnant Catelyn Stark struggles with her feelings towards Jon Snow and begins to see a pattern with her husband bringing home a child every time he returns from war.

**Catelyn.**

**I. Of Bastards & Innocents.**

Catelyn Tully Stark lay in her bed, her hand circling her swollen stomach. The baby was due in less than a moon, and she was grateful that Ned would be here to welcome their child into the world.

This pregnancy was harder than her last two. The baby seemed to be always moving and kicking.

"Wolfsblood." Ned had told. "The babe will be wild and willful."

Catelyn hoped her husband was mistaken. Ned had just brought home Theon Greyjoy, bringing the total of children in their care to four, soon to be five. The boy was Balon Greyjoy's heir and was being kept as a ward at Winterfell to ensure his father's continued cooperation. Every time Ned rode off to war, he returned home with another child. 

A child that wasn't hers.

She hated that boy. The boy who looked so much like Ned when Catelyn's own son did not. She knew it wasn't fair to hate the child, but she couldn't help it. A living, breathing reminder that the honorable Ned Stark wasn't so honorable after all. That he had loved some other women, and that maybe he still did.

She hoped this child would have the Stark looks.

Her husband turned over in his sleep. He hadn't been sleeping well since he had returned. After he had come from the Dorne with that little bastard boy, it had taken months before he could sleep soundly. It appears it would be the same this time as well.

"Lyanna."

Catelyn tuned. It had been only a murmur, but still, she could hear it.

"I'm sorry, Lya. I am so sorry. Please don't leave me. Please. You must live, if not for me than for him. He needs you; I need you." His voice grew in presence with every word.

Catelyn listened in shock. Ned never spoke of his sister. It hurt him too much.

Who had could have needed Lyanna more than Ned? Robert? No, Robert was in love with an idea, not the woman itself.

A pit began to grow in Catelyn's swollen stomach.

She had always known that Ned and Lyanna had been close.

She thought of Brandon, the man she had been supposed to marry before Robert started a war and Rhaegar left his wife. Brandon had often talked of his siblings, of little Benjen who dreamed of being a ranger in the Night's Watch. Of quiet Ned who was endlessly trying to keep his older brother out of trouble and failing. And of willful Lyanna who he had bragged was the best rider in all of the seven kingdoms.

The man who had died far too young and too tragically had told her how close Ned and Lyanna were. "Inseparable," Brandon had said.

Catelyn knew that Ned had loved his little sister more than anything else in the world and that when he had lost Lyanna, she left a hole that no one could ever fill.

Maybe it's not a memory. It could just be a nightmare. 

But something in Catelyn knew otherwise.

The pain in her gentle husband's voice was all too real.

"No, Lya, please. Please don't die." He begged. And then to Catelyn's horror, he started crying, tears streaking in narrow rivets on his cheeks. Catelyn screwed her eyes shut, unable to watch and unable to move.

He let out a heart-wrenching sob. "I'll protect him, Lyanna. I promise." His voice broke at the last word.

And with that, Ned let out a gasp, his eyes flying open in shock. He sat up, careful not to wake his wife, who was pretending to be asleep. She didn't want to face him. What would she even say?

Ned rose from their bed, wrapping himself in a heavy cloak, and donning a pair of boots before leaving their chambers. She listened as his footfalls echoed down the corridor until he reached the end of the hall where all the Starks slept. She heard the large oak door to the bastard boy's chamber creek open and then fall shut.

Jon.

She once heard the little boy ask Ned who his mother was. Jon had called her mother, and she had harshly corrected him, her voice like the icy winds that blew through the Godswood. She left Ned to explain his actions to the confused little boy, unable to do so herself.

But when she turned the corner, she came to a stop and listened. Catelyn wanted to hear what Ned told his son, the one who had the Stark looks. Ned hadn't told her anything. He had refused to speak of it since she had asked him if the boy was Ashara Dayne's son. Ned had been betrothed to her before the Rebellion. Before the Lady of Starfall had thrown herself from a tower, shortly after Jon was born.

But his eyes had turned cold. "He is a Stark. That is all that matters."

She waited with bated breath. "I..." Her husband paused, uncertainty thick in his voice. "I loved her very much."

That was all he had told the boy. And it had broken her heart.

And now her heart broke again. Not for herself, but for her sweet, honorable Ned. And for the innocent little boy with black curls and Stark grey eyes who could never know the truth.

Ned had not lied.

The child was a Stark. And Ned had loved Jon's mother, more than Catelyn could have ever known.

"Oh Ned," she whispered into the darkness.

The boy may be a bastard, but he was not Ned's.

She didn't know how long she lay there before she drifted off into an uneasy sleep, her mind still swirling with thoughts of blue roses, a little bastard boy with dark curls, and a bed of blood.

And when she awoke a short while later, she still saw the bed of blood from her dreams. Only this time, the blood wasn't a dream, and it did not belong Lady Lyanna.

The blood was Catelyn's.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Catelyn became pregnant with Arya right before Ned left to go fight the Iron Rebellion (I'm not sure if this follows canon, but close enough). Ned has just returned from fighting in the Ironborn Rebellion and has brought Theon back with him.


	4. Spirit & Fighters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry this update took so long. I've been really busy with school, work and college applications. And then I got a bit stuck, but I finally wrote it! Enjoy!

Spirit & Fighters.

 **Catelyn**.

Catelyn lets out a piercing cry.

A panic shoots through her. It was too soon, the babe wasn't due for nearly another moon. And there shouldn't be so much blood.

_This is how Lyanna died._

In that instant, all she can picture is the motherless boy with her husband's solemn face.

Robb and Sansa's faces flash through her mind. They would grow up without her, and if the babe survived then they would too.

No.

Catelyn refused to be Lyanna. She wouldn't let that happen to Ned, not again. Her children would not grow up without a mother. Her babe would not die. Not today.

"Ned!" she calls out, as loud as she can through the pain, though it sounds more like a whimper. "Ned!"

The heavy thud of boots pounding against the stone floors ring through the hall. Ned bursts into the chamber to see her lying there, blood staining her nightgown and the sheets. The color drains from his face.

And for a moment it's still. Then Catelyn screams. It feels as though a knife is being thrust through her, over and over again.  _It_ never _hurt like this before_ , her panicked mind thinks.

"Guards! Get Maester Luwin now! Tell him the baby is coming."

A small head of dark curls peaks out from behind Ned's leg but before she can truly register his presence, another cry is wrenched from her throat and her vision blurs.

Maester Luwin rushes into the room, his chain crooked from being thrown on haphazardly, a gaggle of nursemaids, midwives, and servants behind him.

"Jon..."

If the boy hadn't looked terrified before he certainly does now. Something about the look in his wintry grey eyes when they fall upon her makes her heart clench.

She hears her husband ordering one of the servant girls to take Jon back to his chambers, his scared little face blurring in her mind.

Her husband kneels beside her, someone tells him it would be best for him to leave but he ignores them, instead he wipes her brow with a cool cloth and gripes her hand.

He had been off fighting a war when Robb had been born, and he had waited outside the birthing chambers when Sansa had come into the world, but this time he was determined to stay.

This time it would be different.

He kisses her forehead and then places his own against it. "I'm here, Cat. Just breathe, my love. You'll be alright."

 _It's early,_ she wants to shout.  _It's too early, please, I can't do this. I can't. I'm not ready._

When she feels the babe and Maester Luwin tells her to push, she whimpers and bites her lip. The midwives and Maester Luwin encourage her with calm words, assuring her that she's nearly done.

Catelyn sees red.

The babe cries are piercing throughout her chambers and suddenly she's aware of Ned stroking her auburn hair, the midwives wiping the child clean of the blood they both share, and the stinging ache between her thighs.

The sounds of her newborn babe ring her ears, and she can feel Ned's touch slipping farther and farther away.

"My baby..."

Ned's words drift by her.

_...fighting spirit._

She hears is Maester Luwin's voice as it all begins to fade away.

_...If she makes it through the night._

Catelyn sees black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter be will basically just be NedCat fluff and an introduction to Arya.


	5. Grey Eyes & Realizations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ned bonds with baby Arya and worries about his newborn daughter and wife.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a very sweet message from a guest reviewer and they asked me to update for their birthday so here you are sweetheart, I hope you like it! I have not proofread this and will probably go back and edit it later.

Three: Of Grey Eyes & Realizations

Ned

Ned Stark refuses to move. He can't.

Catelyn Tully Stark lays in the same four-poster bed unconscious, just has she has for the past day and a half.

Ned refuses to leave their chambers. He's terrified that if he leaves the room he'll return to find Catelyn gone.

He twines a lock of his wife's auburn hair around his finger. Catelyn's hair was the first thing he noticed about her. Ned can still remember it, the way her hair seemed to glow in the sunlight. Back when she stood at Brandon's side rather than his.

The same hair that adorns the heads of the two sleeping children down the hall. Unaware and innocent. Ned hasn't seen Robb and Sansa in two days, not since Catelyn gave birth but he has heard them. He listens to the stories Old Nan tells them before bed, Robb's curious questions as to his parents' whereabouts and Maester Luwin's skillful evasions.

The Lord of Winterfell scoops up the babe who has been resting a wooden cradle.

He cards a single finger through her single dark curl. Her curls aren't the same as Robb's. The girl's were chestnut rather than copper. Like Jon's.

The single dark curl stands out against her pale skin, a spill of ink against blank parchment.

 _She can fit in the palm of my hand,_  Ned marvels.

Ned doesn't remember Jon or Sansa ever being this small. And he had not laid eyes on Robb until he was nearly half a year old.

His daughter had been born too soon, the midwife had explained.

It was why the infant was so small, so frail.

Ned wonders if she will always be tiny.

Robb had always been taller than most of the lads his age and Sansa not much shorter than Jon, despite the years between them.

 _She doesn't seem frail,_  he thinks, as the newborn babe stares up at him with the steely grey that characterizes House Stark.

Small, but not weak.

Maester Luwin remarked that she resembled him, while Robb and Sansa took after their lady mother.

The little girl did have the look of the Starks, with their wintery grey eyes and dark locks.

 _She does have my look._ Ned thinks.  _And father's, and Brandon's and Lyanna's_. But he never says that part aloud. It hurts too much.

Ned's chest tightens.  _I can't lose her. I can't have another pair of grey eyes close forever, haunting me. Not again_.

The babe stares at back at her father, defiant, as she if she knows what he is thinking and is affronted by it. "You're a fighter, aren't you, little wolf?" He whispers to the bundle in his arms. His daughter gurgles in agreement. "Winter is hard, but the Starks endure. And so will you." He smoothes down her single dark curl. "There is wolfs blood in your veins." He swears that the babe smiles at him. "You are too stubborn to go down without a fight."

And with that, she opens her mouth and lets out a cry. Startled by the noise, Ned rocks her back and forth trying to calm her, but still, his little wolf howls on.

Ned desperately tries to remember what Catelyn would do when the others cried.

Rob had been a happy child, and when he cried, the mere sight of Catelyn had usually calmed him. Sansa had rarely made noise, always so quiet and demure. And when she did it, she sounded more like a sad song than the howling cries her sister was currently making.

Ned thinks he can count on one hand the number of times he heard Jon cry. The boy had always been solemn little thing. As if he was all too aware of the darkness surrounding his birth.

"Hush now, love," he tries. "You'll wake your brothers and sister up."

Still, she cries.

"Please? For me?"

Her wails become softened slightly, not that it helps much. How can someone so small make such a loud sound?

He will need to inform Maester Luwin that he no longer need be concerned about her lungs being underdeveloped.

"Ned?" a voice croaks.

He whips around to see his wife struggling upright on feeble arms. "No, Cat," he rushes to her side, trying to get her lay back and calm the restless child at the same time. He fails at both, for both of them are too stubborn and carry on as before.

Like mother like daughter.

"Give me my child, Ned."

"Please lie back, Cat."

"Eddard."

Ned complies, handing over the squalling bundle of blankets. He always does when his wife uses his full name. It makes the Lord of Winterfell feel like Robb, being scolded for swiping sweets from the kitchen or throwing snowballs at his sister.

"A girl." He tells her, gingerly placing the squalling bundle in her outstretched arms.

"She has your look."

"Aye."

She holds the little girl to her breast, gently shushing her, whispering sweet nothings into her dark hair until the babe quiets and peers up at her mother with curious grey eyes.

"What does Maester Luwin say?" His wife whispers, her blue eyes never straying from the bundle in her arms.

"That she was born early."

Catelyn looks up at her solemn husband; her Tully blue eyes lit with indignation.

"I am quite aware of that, my lord, seeing as I was present for the birth."

He nods helplessly. "I remember."

"Good. Now tell me what the Maester said when I was no longer... present. Coddling me will do no god."

Ned's gaze shifts nervously around the room.

"Please, Ned."

He sighs and rubs a hand down his long face. "He says that because she was born so soon, she didn't have enough time to grow. That she is small, too small. He is worried that she may not..."

"May not be strong enough?"

Ned swallows, giving a barely perceptible nod, not meeting his wife's gaze.

Catelyn's gaze shifts back to her daughter.

"He's wrong," she whispers.

The Lord of Winterfell looks up at that, his grey eyes meeting her blue ones. "The other night, before she was born, you told me that she had wolfsblood. Fierce and wild and willful." She smiles down at her daughter. "Look at her, Ned. She's a fighter. And I have known a Stark to give up without a fight."

Ned looks at his wife like she is a miracle. And to him, she is. This woman whom he married as barely more than strangers, out of duty rather than love. But it didn't feel like duty, not anymore.

Catelyn was beautiful, she has always been beautiful, but now, watching her with her auburn waves having long since fallen loose of their braid, swirling around her like flames, as she hums a tune and rocks her daughter, their daughter, he feels fit to burst.

He watches the scene desperately trying to sear it into his mind because for as long as he lives, he does not ever want to forget this moment.

"I love you." His voice is hushed, soft as if he were speaking inside a sept.

The words should sound foreign to him, but they don't. The words sound like home.

Catelyn looks over at him, her soft smiling growing until it's all he sees.

"I love you too."

Ned leans over, his torso angled awkwardly so as not crush her or the babe, and kisses her, Catelyn's lips rising to meet his.

He tangles his hand in her auburn waves while leaning on the other, his body twisted uncomfortably so as not crush the babe between them. Catelyn's lips are chapped, and his beard scratches her cheeks.

It is raw and flawed and real.

They only break apart when the babe between them wakes with a howl.

Catelyn pulls away with a small laugh.

"I think our little wolf may be hungry."

Ned chuckles at that. "I wish you luck. It took the wet nurse nearly three hours to get her to feed. Claimed she was the most stubborn babe she ever nursed."

Catelyn shakes her head in mock exasperation at the crying little girl. "You will never make things easy for us, will you?"

And Ned swears he sees his daughter smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ned and Cat are the original OTP the hurt my heart.  
> Here’s the introduction to Arya. I can kind of like the idea of her being a fighter literally since the day she was born and how she’s already showing herself to be against the grain. Ned and Arya’s relationship has always been one of my favorites. I like how he tries to let her have as much freedom as possible and she is definitely as Daddy’s little girl. 
> 
> Next chapter: Baby Arya meets her siblings and Catelyn has a surprise announcement.


	6. IV. Sisters & Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robb and Sansa meet their new sister. Jon makes a promise and gets a present for his name day.

**IV. Sisters & Promises.**

**Catelyn.**

The next morning, Robb and Sansa come bursting into their parents' chambers, chattering excitedly about their new little sister. They rush over and Robb helps to lift little Sansa onto the bed before clambering up after her.

"What's her name?" Robb asks, curiously peering at the bundle in his mother's arms.

"Arya, after my grandmother, Arya Flint." Ned tells him.

"And the queen!" Robb adds. "Queen Arya Stark ruled the North before Aegon and his dragons came. She was the only Queen to rule the North all by herself. Does that mean baby Arya is going to be a queen too?"

"That's not fair!" Sansa pouts. " _I_  want to be the queen!"

"Arya isn't going to be a queen, sweetling." Her mother assures her, "she's going to be a lady, like you."

"She doesn't  _look_  like a lady," Robb remarks.

"Lady's have beautiful long hair," Sansa adds in a matter of fact tone, flipping her auburn locks over her shoulder. "And baby Arya is almost bald."

Ned laughs. "Her hair will grow, sweetling. When you were born, you didn't have any hair at all."

Robb laughs at this and Sansa sticks her tongue out at him. "It's rude to mock a lady." She tells him in a prim tone.

"But it's fun to mock my sister." He quips back, a twinkle in his blue eyes.

Catelyn sighs and cuts Sansa off before she has a chance to respond. "Go, run along, both of you."

"Yes, mother," They answer in perfect unison.

Robb scampers off the bed before offering his hand to help little Sansa.

Robb heads for the door, tugging Sansa's hand. "Come on, let's go play! You can be the maiden in the tower and I'll be the knight who rescues you! And you can be the dragon, Jon!" It is then that Catelyn notices Jon standing in the doorway, watching from the shadows rather than joining his siblings. The boy turns to follow the redheads but Catelyn stops him. "Jon," She calls out, "come here."

"Can we still play without him?" Sansa asks, looking up at her older brother.

Robb nods and gives Sansa's hand a gentle tug before continuing out the door. "Of course we can, we'll just ask Theon to play instead. He can be the dragon, or maybe a sea monster instead!"

Sansa giggles and their footsteps fade down the hall.

Jon looks up nervously, unaccustomed to having the Lady of Winterfell address him directly. Up until then, Catelyn has always made a point to ignore the boy simply doing her best to pretend that the bastard didn't exist. "Come here and meet your new sister."

Jon glances to Ned unsure, but his father only nods. "Go on, lad."

He walks over, his eyes hesitant.

"It's alright," The woman reassures him. "Sit down."

The dark-haired boy sits on the edge of the bed, as far away from Catelyn as he can.

"You can't hold her if you're all the way down there, now can you?" The boy shakes his head and scoots closer. "Hold out your arms." Jon does as he is bid.

Catelyn careful places the infant in his arms showing him how to support her head and instructing him to hold her close. He stares down at the red-faced bundle in awe. Arya waves her fist at him before clutching onto his finger with a steel grip. A laugh bubbles from her mouth, as does Jon's.

"She likes you."

Ned watches them, a mix of sorrow, joy, and nostalgia paint his face, as he sinks down onto the bed next to Catelyn, who leans back into him.

"She doesn't look like Robb and Sansa." The young boy remarks, not tearing his gaze away from the squirming bundle in his arms.

"You're right. Sansa and Robb look more like my family, while Arya looks more like the Starks."

Ned looks at the scene before him with wistful eyes. "She looks like Lyanna," He whispers, his voice cracking at the last syllable.

"They both do," Catelyn replies.

Ned's eyes leap from the children to look at his wife.

But Catelyn avoids her husband's gaze and turns back to the young boy in front of her. "Look to me, Jon."

The little boy looks at her, expression solemn and at that moment, he looks so like Ned. But Catelyn can see the subtle differences between the two. Jon's cheeks bones were more delicate and refined, while Ned and Brandon and Benjen's were harsher. The shape of his eyes is different too, less round, she can see a faint trace of violet amidst the grey in his eyes when the sunlight hits them. "Arya is your little sister and it is your responsibility to protect her. Can you do that?"

The boy nods, looking far too serious for his age. "Yes, my lady. I promise."

She smiles at him. "Good." Jon's gaze returns to Arya and Catelyn smoothes his curls.

"Your name day is today, is it not?"

"Yes, my lady, I am five years old now." He smiles down at his little sister. "It's almost the same as baby Arya's."

"Now, I know Robb was gifted sword for his name day a few moons back, and that you would like one as well, but I thought perhaps we could gift you something else."

The boy looks crestfallen at the news that he would not be receiving a sword like his half-brother, though he does his best to hide his disappointment. "Of course. Whatever you believe is fitting, my lady."

"I was thinking, that instead of a sword, a name. How about Jon Stark. Would you like that?"

The boy's expression changes in an instant, his eyes bright and he nods vigorously, his smile threatening to eclipse his face. "Yes, I would like that very much!"

Ned gapes at her, "Cat-"

"It's settled then. Now, your sister needs her rest. Go run along and play with the others."

The boy places Arya back in her mother's arms with such tenderness and care, that Catelyn's can feel her heart clench. "Thank you, my lady." She smiles at the boy and gives a small nod before he runs out of the room as fast as his small legs can carry him.

"Robb! Robb! You will never guess what I am getting for my name day! It's even better than your sword!" The boy shouts down the hallway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is going to be the conversation between Ned and Cat about Jon and it is probably going to be the last chapter from Catelyn's POV. After that, there will be a bit of a time jump and will start to focus on the kids when they are young(er). 
> 
> This chapter was inspired by Bellamy and Octavia Blake from the 100 especially their relationship in the first few seasons and Bellamy's line "my sister my responsibility." I've always seen a lot of similarities/parallels between Arya and Octavia and Octavia & Bellamy and Arya & Jon so that will be some of the inspiration for Arya and Jon's relationship in this story.


End file.
